Silly question alert! - Anyone elses horse wont eat polos?

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Tangaroo

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I have a youngster who spits out polos and sugar lumps or horse treats.
Although i dont believe in giving lots of treats it would be seriously useful if he liked polos for situations such a s mounting at competitions when he is lit up or just to use as a distraction tool.
He is fantastic at home and easy to do everything with, i just find if i give him a little bit of grass for these situations it directs his mind more towards me or the grass. A polo would be so much easier as they could just be in my pocket for when i need them.
Any suggestions. Has anyone persuaded their horse to eat things like this?
 
I'm a very mean mum and don't give my two any treats, including carrots and apples. They get scritches on their itchy places as praise for doing something well.
 
One of the youngsters that came to our yard for training had no idea what to do with treats. Polos, horse treats, pieces of apple or carrot - he'd just mouth them and spit them out! It made me feel a bit sad that he had no idea what to do with a carrot, but at least he wasn't nippy!
 
I have discovered a scratchy spot on my boy so thought i would try that as a relaxation tip. I agree i dont want him to be nippy but a bit of grass works wonders but then leaes his mouth green. Thought a polo would produce the right coloured froth!! :-)
 
I had a mare that wouldn't eat sugar free polos. Give her a full fat polo and she was very happy to munch through it but a sugar free one would litterally be spat out immediatly.

Girl after my own heart :)
 
I got a youngster that was very suspicious of anything not grass. I got her started on sugar beet and added a minute bit of smashed up polo. She did not eat it she ate round it. When she was eating that I added another bit. It took two weeks for her to eat the first polo. The second one went in 4 days and then she started to eat larger bits until a week later she would eat polos scattered in her sugar beet but it took another month for her to eat one from my hand. 10 years later the only thing I could not get her to try and eat was cabbage.
 
My mare refuses to eat polos she just turns her nose up at them, however my boyfriend met her for the first time a few weeks ago and she happily ate a whole tube. she absolutely loved him, the tart!

My gelding on the other hand will eat anything haha
 
I use high fibre nuggets if I feel the need to reward. I had a foal last year who had a scratch between his legs as a reward for having his headcollar on, he loved it!

I don't like giving tit bits as don't want nippy ponies but when training I do use them if required.
 
Funny. I use them as part of training, with the occasional treat when I leave cos she's a cutie. I tend to give mint treats or carrots. Other stuff I add to her feed like applies and pears. She likes most of them but does turn her nose up now and again and doesn't seem to like more exotic treats, whereas my old gelding would eat anything I gave him and then try and eat whatever else I was eating.

I do think they have their use as a rewards/distraction like you say, and for carrot stretches.
 
I knew a gelding called Charlie who wouldnt eat polos, only carrots and apples, but one day i had half a pack of extra strong mints with chilli in my pocket and offered him one as i popped one in my mouth, he loved it and they were then the only mints he would eat, anything else he would sniff cautiously and sometimes even snort at the offered polo in your hand.

My boy loves mints and halls menthol ones are a big hit as well as extra strong mints with chilli, he curls his lip then asks for more! He also likes carrots but offer him an apple and he will act like im trying to poison him, if i pop one in his feed he will pick round the slices xD
 
I don't give my horses anything from the hand; they wouldn't take a mint, or anything else and I don't allow people to give them treats (they work in public displays and a nippy horse is simply not on). Why anyone wants to feed horses by hand I have no idea.
 
I very very rarely feed titbits anyway, and won't feed carrots to horses because I'm aware that the beta-carotene in them can be like rocket-fuel to some horses!

IF I feel the need to treat, on that once-in-a-blue-moon occasion, they'll get an apple from one of our own trees when in season. Trad-lad will sometimes get a Marmite Sandwich for his sweet itch (but has brewers yeast in his feed anyway so this is a treat).

I did give my loan mare a polo mint once, she was very suspicious of it and put her head up and rolled back her top lip :)

Trad-lad loves them...... when he can persuade other people to give him one that is LOL
 
My saddlebred mare won't eat mints of any kind. You wouldn't believe how far she can spit them. Her daughter on the other hand will do anything for a mint, preferably extra strong! What ia funny though is the mare will eat Top Spec top chop light and it smells very minty!!
 
Pie didn't know what treats were when I first got him. I taught him by posting one into his bottom lip and gently holding it there so it melted and he got the taste of it.
I used them as a reward for some years when we had been jumping - but somewhere along the way he seemed to go off them, would just sniff them and turn away. Funny thing is recently my instructor gave him one after a particularly good lesson and he ate it.
He's such a dear gentle soul with treats, never snatches, nips or rummages through pockets. You can give him the tiniest crumb between finger and thumb and he will gently pluck it with his lips.
 
Moses spat the first couple out like I was trying poison him, then the flavour hit and he was a convert. I tend to feed most treats in their buckets, mainly carrots and apples. Polos are an extra special treat for good boys at shows. I do enjoy their reaction to the polo. Neither of my horses bite or nip so I see no problem with it and it gives me and them pleasure. Each to their own in the end.
 
I've known horses not to like mints, my OH is Dutch +his eventer hadnt got a clue what they were at first!! She loved them so much so that when she retired back to Holland we use to send "food parcels" of mints back for her! Our 2 get an apple everyday in their tea +a small bag of carrots @ the weekend
 
My late gelding hadn't been given treats of any kind before he came to us, didn't know what a mint/apple/carrot was and was very confused over the whole thing. We're not "big" into treating but do give them a little something when we do late night checks and do use them for rewards occasionally. He did eventually get the idea after watching the others and would do anything for a mint after a while! Food was definitely the way to his heart.
 
Can somebody please explain why they would want to feed a horse something that's not good for it (sugar), in a way that's not good for it (from the hand)? I really don't see why you would want to do this.......
 
Cortez said:
Can somebody please explain why they would want to feed a horse something that's not good for it (sugar), in a way that's not good for it (from the hand)? I really don't see why you would want to do this.......
Click to expand...

My gelding has to have half a Prescend tablet daily, lives out 24/7 in a herd with ad lib hay. The tablet is not palatable and I don't want to take him out of the field to give him an otherwise unnecessary feed. I feed this in a section of carrot with a hole in for the tablet to fit. The others get the rest of the carrot between them as they are checked over. He never used to have treats as he was quite gobby as a youngster.
 
I know one that doesn't like polos - i'm not sure what she thinks about other mints. It's quite sad really, she stands there looking all hopeful and loving til she realises what the treat on offer is and then she turns her nose up.

I certainly don't believe in giving treats too often but they do have their uses. Like persuading RDA horses that Father Christmas isn't too scary.
 
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